With Dale Coyne Racing’s Sting Ray Robb the only other car in Indy’s abbreviated ‘Bump Day’, the Rahal team had to face up to the fact that it was likely one of its drivers would knock out the other.
“Right before the session, Graham and I were saying to each other, I don’t know which one of us is going to be [knocked out] but it’s going to be me or him,” says Harvey. “We kind of spoke it into existence, but that was the reality.
“Bobby [Rahal, team owner and 500 champion], and his people have been coming and doing this for over 30 years, and have never been through this level of drama.”
As the last chance session commenced, Rahal’s worst fears were confirmed. Harvey was slowest, with Graham just ahead.
The clock ticking down, Harvey went on an installation lap out to cool his engine – usually key to going faster – before doing what he thought would be his last qualifying effort.
Harvey describes going into a meditative state on his successful qualifying run – post Lincoln City thoughts
IndyCar
With Indy qualifying set on an average speed over four laps, cars usually get slower over the four tours. On Harvey’s second effort, though still just slower than Graham, his third lap was essentially the same speed as his second.
With just seconds left in the session, Harvey’s No30 crew knew if he could do the same again, but just the tiniest bit faster, he could get into the race – and knock out his team-mate.
